


It Never Does

by Akuma Memento Mori_reposted fics (BBJ_3)



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, Lost Love, M/M, itachi just wants his cousin to comfort him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-13 12:24:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18468916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BBJ_3/pseuds/Akuma%20Memento%20Mori_reposted%20fics
Summary: When Itachi confronts Tobi he is faced with the last person he expected to find beneath the spiraling mask.





	It Never Does

The first time that Itachi saw Tobi all he could think was that Zetsu was wasting his time. The boy was too frail, too loud, and too uncontrolled to be a proper member of the Akatsuki. Tobi would laugh loudly for no reason and jump around when he should be still. He was useless and Itachi found that he could not even stand looking at the masked shinobi as even the orange spirals of his mask was wrong in the Uchiha's eyes. Yet Zetsu seemed fond of the boy so Pein allowed him to stay with them and to apprentice under the plant shinobi. Still, for all his flaws and the bile taste that his appearance caused Itachi; the Sharigan user could not help the desire to know who the obnoxious shinobi had been before Zetsu found him. So far all he knew was that the boy had first been cared for by Sasori and Orochimaru, even though Zetsu had found him, until the snake left. Until his apprenticeship with Zetsu the boy had been kept in Sasori's quarters so that the puppet master could be certain he functioned properly after the surgery. He did not know what surgery or why. Added to his list of known facts was that Tobi had dark brown, almost black, hair and that he was missing his left eye but that Sasori was searching for a suitable replacement. Why Sasori was fond of the annoyance was beyond him though he would venture that Tobi was the only body that both he and Orochimaru worked on that was still in his possession.

Now, though, he would have all the information he wanted. Sasori was dead and Zetsu was gone on a mission. No one was left to protect poor little Tobi. Itachi smirked at his prey which was pined against the wall. The room had been Sasori's but as Tobi had taken his place it was now the orange masked boy's room. Everything was set as if the puppet master had not died save one small plant on the right side corner of Sasori's workbench. It didn't seem to fit the energetic Akatsuki. Too Spartan, too reserved, but Itachi knew that Tobi missed Sasori just as much as Deidara. Both had loved Sasori in their own way. Tobi's love was as a brother; an idealistic and self-sacrificing love. Deidara's love was that of an admirer; a lustful, somewhat idealistic, and destructive love. Itachi would not be surprised if the pair took solace in each other's company even if the blond said otherwise. There was one difference besides the plant that showed it was not the puppet master's room anymore. The bed was neat, but obviously used.

"Are you scared, Tobi?" Itachi inquired though waves of fear seemed to radiate off the cornered shinobi who refused to fight against his supposed ally.

"Tobi is very afraid," the young man admitted without pause, which was not all surprising, "Tobi wishes Zetsu was here."

"Do you love him?" Itachi knew exactly why he asked that question, and was almost positive of the answer as the vibrant Tobi loved more freely than any other Itachi had known. Even more so than Iruka had.

"Yes," Tobi whispered as Itachi stepped closer to him. Even though he was masked the other tilted his head away from Itachi as if he would vanish if Tobi could not see him.

"Does he know?" Itachi pushed as he stopped with just a hand's width from the shorter one.

"Yes," Tobi's voice was filled with pain and Itachi could hear the tears in his voice.

"He has rejected you?" if the plant shinobi had turned down Tobi than Itachi would be somewhat surprised. Zetsu seemed to be completely enamored with his one time apprentice.

"No," Tobi whimpered and lifted his face to meet Itachi, "Tobi could not love Zetsu as Zetsu wanted. Tobi only loves…" he paused as if confused, "Tobi knows his name…he knows it…he just can't remember," Itachi did not speak as the other would continue if given the opportunity. Silence often drew words from Tobi even when he wanted to remain silent, "He has Tobi's eye…Sasori-sama said all would have been better if Tobi hadn't been stupid and given away his eye. But it was a gift…a gift for becoming a jonin."

A sinking feeling filled the Uchiha and he ripped the mask from the smaller's face. Scars littered the right half of Tobi's face though amazingly it was perfect otherwise. Orochimaru and Sasori had done an amazing job. Though, for the sinking feeling in his stomach, Itachi realized that Tobi looked no older than fifteen. His right eye, a black eye, stared into Itachi's own before turning red and the Sharigan was revealed. The left half was almost completely unharmed except for a few scars around the left eye which was a blue-grey. Itachi remembered this face; this face was why he hated Konoha. This face was why he thought that his family should die and accepted the mission when given. This face was his idol. This face was the cousin he had cared so deeply for, the cousin who had molded the rest of his life.

"Obito…" his breath seemed to leave his body as he let the mask drop to the floor where rattled before falling silent.

"Itachi-" Obito whispered and Itachi cursed himself for never realizing how similar they sounded. Tobi and Obito; Itachi wanted to scream, "I didn't want you to know."

Itachi's hands clenched into fists on either side of Obito's head, "Why?" he demanded, "Why didn't you come back if you remembered?"

"I can only remember a little. I only know that I am Uchiha Obito and that you are my cousin. I can only remember the moments of my death. I can only remember fighting and killing. I don't remember being happy in Konoha. I don't remember my family beyond that they died. I didn't remember enough to make me want to go back," Obito's words brought a vile taste to Itachi's mouth, "And even if I did…I'm not going to age right…every year passes as if it were a month. It has been fourteen years, Itachi. And I look barely two years older," he looked away from the pair of Sharigan and deactivated his own, "None of them would look at me now."

"I waited for you," Itachi whispered, "I waited for fifteen days, barely eating or sleeping, waiting for you."

"You were only four; you didn't know any better," Obito replied, "You would have done the same for any of the Uchiha then."

"No, you were the only one that ever mattered."

Another silence passed between them as Obito's eyes flickered to Itachi and then the floor. He had not expected the pain of betrayal to be there. He had assumed Itachi would have felt indifference to his presence at this point. Had believed Itachi no longer had the ability to care, let alone the ability to care enough to be hurt by such a small thing as not coming home. The word did not fit, Obito thought to himself, Konoha had stopped being his home the moment those rocks crushed him. And the only reason he would have gone home for was a blurry shade of black and grey that he could not fully comprehend. A blur that he could not even name.

"I am sorry," he whispered knowing that it would not be enough. Apologies were never enough for Itachi, "I thought it would be better if you hated me as Tobi than…" he left the words unsaid.

"Than have me hate you?" Itachi finished for him and leaned forward so their eyes were level and lips nearly touching.

Itachi did not love Obito. He had no delusions that he did or ever would. He knew Obito did not love him in that way. Obito was not capable of any love but the palpable brotherly love that was always selfless but never fulfilling. Even all that time ago, Itachi had known that Obito loved everyone the same. Everyone except Kakashi. Thoughts wondering for a moment he could not help but conclude that Obito was the perfect Uchiha. He treated everyone with the same respectful love that made them able to love him in return, yet he never loved them any more than they loved him. Except Kakashi.

Itachi was nothing if not rational. He knew he loved some more than others and that he loved some more than they loved him. Sasuke and Iruka were the prime examples. Itachi felt only distaste for the villagers of Konoha. The people who lived their lives never knowing the sacrifices the shinobi around them constantly have to make. Even the shinobi don't really understand the sacrifices that are made by each other. He loved Sasuke similarly to how Obito loved everyone. A brotherly love that would get him killed. A love that was selfless in some aspects, almost all. Then there was Iruka. Glaring into those two different color eyes Itachi realized with sadness as he caught his own reflection that he was dying without Iruka. He loved him beyond what he had once deemed humanly possible. And like all Uchiha, that love was destroying him.

"I want him, Obito," Itachi whispered remembering times long ago when he was still little and he had a cousin who meant the world to him. A cousin who listened to him and always encouraged him, "I know it is killing me but I want to be with him every waking second. I do not believe I can keep from telling him."

Obito smiled in the way he used to and hugged his younger cousin, "It is okay, things will get better."

Itachi was half-pleased half-destroyed by this statement. It was Obito's encouraging way again yet it had been Obito that had told him about the odd curse that seemed to hang around the Uchiha manor. The curse that if someone's spouse died they often died as well. The curse that meant love was most valued, and most despised. The curse that he was living.

"It won't, Obito," he whispered and found himself wanting to tell Obito to go to Kakashi. Wanting to make him go and be rejected or accepted. He wanted Obito to face judgment as he had. But he wouldn't do that, "It never will."

 

**Author's Note:**

> Originally by Akuma Memento Mori, reposted with permission.


End file.
